LexStand sponsors virtual town hall on Breonna’s Law

Kentuckians deserve more than what the General Assembly had to offer. That’s why LexStand for Breonna’s Law Coalition co-sponsored a virtual town hall with Mission Behind Bars and Beyond, Inc. and KFTC to support HB 21, Breonna’s Law, and to also push for Lexington to become the second Kentucky city with a local ban on no-knock warrants. 

Panelists were State Representative Attica Scott, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Member James Brown; Keturah Herron, ACLU-KY Policy Strategist; Shauntrice Martin, KFTC Organizer; Tayna Fogle, KFTC Organizer, Reverend Dr. Michael Robinson, Pastor of Total Grace Church; Rev. Clark Williams of Shiloh Baptist Church and The People’s Campaign; Former Assistant Fayette County Attorney Denotra Spruill Gunther; Dr. Arnold Farr of the University of Kentucky; and “Pastor E,” Reverend Dr. Anthony Everett of Mission Behind Bars and Beyond, Inc.

“One of the things that we’re calling for, among others as it relates to policing, is a permanent ban on no-knock warrants at the local level,” said Rev. Williams. “In Lexington there’s a moratorium that the mayor’s placed on it at present.” 

Williams continued, “We’re calling for a permanent ban and for it to be absolute. The potential cost, as we found with Breonna Taylor, is far too great.”

Pastor E spoke to the importance of solidarity between Black Kentuckians in Louisville and Lexington, “We get separated all the time. Sixty percent of all the African Americans in the state live between Louisville and Lexington.” 

“So something happens in the west end of Louisville, that same thing should affect the east end of Lexington. We are one together, and we need to act in that manner.”

Rep. Scott referenced the years-long and ongoing work to pass statewide legislation for voting rights, environmental justice, and fairness. “We are not getting everything we want right now, but we are building power and that terrifies people who don’t want to see us connected, who don’t want to see us build, who want to divide us and have us pitted against one another. But we have to keep building that power – Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Paducah, Berea– all across Kentucky. We’ve got to keep building up because we know that every single time that we build, we’re preparing for that next session, we’re preparing for that local legislative session, we’re preparing to take on D.C. So let’s keep building.”